Suresh D. Pillai

“Are Microbes Responsible for Criminal Behavior?”

Suresh Pillai is a microbiologist at Texas A&M University. As Professor of Microbiology and Director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University, his research focuses on microbes in all sorts of locations. His research spans all the way from septic tanks, salads, sandwiches, and the international space station and beyond.

His attempts at using high-energy electron beam technology to inactivate microbial pathogens have humbled him. Humbled by the measly microbes that are so small and yet so robust and versatile. He spends his days teaching and advocating the fact that unless we understand microbes all our attempts to use hand sprays and cleaners may be futile. He feels that modern society is wasting money trying to “spray and pray” while the microbes are probably laughing at how naïve humans are. He feels that society may take a long time to acknowledge that microbes are not just annoying microscopic life forms. Microbes probably influence us more than we want to accept. His analogy to his hypothesis is similar to what Copernicus faced when he proposed that the sun was the center of the solar system.